“Here.” Ghady tossed the orb to the boss, the boss flinched as he struggled to catch it but at the end, it was safely nestled in his hands.
“I've gone through a hell lot of trouble securing that,” Ghady continued, “better keep it safe.”
“T-thank you Gha-”
“Don't mention it.” Ghady interrupted.
“I'm going to be expecting the pay. After all, the bills don't pay themselves.”
As he walked out, Bobby bounced his way towards him
“Hey Ghady!” He called out,
Ghady rolled his eyes and continued to move along
“...What?” He asked
Bobby looked at him with his usual shining eyes.
“Oh come on… Can't a friend say hi?”
Ghady looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “Friend? When did we become friends? Seriously, in this line of busine-” before he could finish, Ghady trailed off and sighed, his expression softening a bit, “Bold of you to consider me a friend…”
Bobby only smiled in return, “Well… I know that you try to act indifferent and cold towards others… But that's only because-”
“That's enough,” Ghady cut him off.
“Anyways…” Bobby cleared his throat trying to shake off the uncomfortable conversation of the past, “How about you head home? After all, it must not have been easy to get that core all by yourself…”
Ghady looked at him, his eyebrow raised high, higher than before.
“You want something… Don't you? All that sweet talking won't get you anywhere, just say what you want.”
Bobby jumped at the accusation, “Well… once you get paid…”
“If I get paid.” Ghady corrected him.
“If you get paid…. Stay, okay?”
Ghady’s eyes widened, he did not expect that.
“...I never planned on leaving.”
“Many groups in these backstreets have eyes on you… You have a lot of experience and are a really good member of our team… so I thought-”
“If I wanted to leave, I'd do that earlier. I have memories of this place, even when I felt that I should leave or find a better place paying money, I never did. Besides, the boss needs me too, doesn't he.”
Bobby calmed down a bit after hearing Ghady’s reassurance
“Thanks… you mean a lot to me.”
Ghady was already moving out of the alleyway,
“Pfft… Don't get all sentimental about it… People will get the wrong idea. Anyways, thanks for the break suggestion. I'm gonna head home now, even if it is just a bed and a kitchen.”
Bobby sighed as he watched Ghady go, he thought as he should've known better, after all, he knew Ghady the longest and the best in the group.
—-----------------------------
A door creaks open, the apartment is small, and the air is crisp and filled with dust.
Ghady walks through the door, shrugging his green hoodie jacket down on the chair, his black shirt clung against his skin because of the sweat.
His stomach suddenly growled, it had been a long day and Ghady was absolutely famished.
‘Hungry’
He opened the fridge, checking the empty shelves.
On the bottom shelf, he found a pack of eggs.
One singular egg.
Beside it laid a carton of milk, half empty.
Perfect for omelettes.
Ghady looked for anything else on the empty shelves, but when he couldn't seem to find anything, he sighed and closed the door.
‘Groceries. Must buy groceries’
It was a dark night, a figure wearing a trench coat stands at a bus stand.
Around the place, lights flickered, the streets were in a desperate need of maintenance.
In the figure’s hand was a glowing orb.
The core buzzed in the cold night, darkness fluttering inside as if it were alive.
Deep inside, a fire glowed dimly as if illuminating the power core with a source of energy.
The man eyed his watch again, waiting.
And exactly when the clock struck 8, another figure appeared from the shadows.
The figure looked more youthful than the one who’d been waiting.
The young man took steps towards the figure in the bus stand gleefully, as if time isn't a matter to be dealt with at the moment.
In the light, his features were covered by a heavy iron mask. He halted to a stop, beside the waiting figure.
“Don’t keep me waiting, hand me the core and I'll give you the money.”
Ghady took the egg from the pack and headed to the stove, when he remembered that he didn't have a frying pan…
It was late at night, his neighbor wouldn't be awake during this time.
He looked around his empty, dust filled kitchen, looking around for some place where he could cook an egg.
Then on a cabinet beside the side, there it was, his microwave. Ghady looked at the egg, wondering if this would even work.
His microwave happened to be all battered up, last he tried to heat up some pasta, it had combusted and broke even more.
Seeing that he had no choice, Ghady took a bowl and placed the egg in the microwave.
5 minutes, he set the microwave to.
“What a life…”
Ghady took the milk container and sat on his singular sofa in the room, staring at a wall.
He wished he had a TV right about now, but times happened to be tough.
He thought about what Bobby had asked him today,
‘Stay okay?’.
Certainly, he wanted to stay, however Ghady was doubtful and uncertain, many opportunities had passed by, to make more money.
The figure holding the core immediately took it out of his trench coat.
“It’s one of a kind…” he mumbled
The masked figure sighed and cut off the other man,
“Of course it's one of a kind. Though I suppose I wouldn't expect you to understand power cores. Hand it over.”
Without hesitating, the man with the trench coat immediately and carefully placed the core in the hands of the masked man.
He took a moment observing it, then dropped it on the ground.
The other man was confused, “Wha-”
“Not what I was looking for,” the masked man mused.
Ghady sat there, on his sofa, tapping his cup with his finger.
He poured the milk earlier into the cup, though before that, he needed to duct tape it back together.
He made a mental note earlier,
‘Buy a new cup, maybe, if there's enough money.’
“You shouldn't advertise a core like that.” the man in the thick iron mask said.
“The ‘Core of Darkness’ yet what you fail to realize is that, there are many cores of darkness. Cores that are controlled by a specific matter inside of them.”
The core that was on the ground started to smoke. “Matter that is alive,”
The smoke started to form as it got larger and larger.
“Matter with its own soul.”
The man in the trench coat staggered off his feet, and tried to crawl backwards away from the form, terrified.
Ghady sat on the sofa, waiting for his egg to boil.
It had only been around a minute or so, somehow, time seemed to slow down.
‘5 minutes… Was that too high?’
The form caused by the core thickened and over time, it had become something.
A monster.
It stood before the staggered man, completely dark and soulless.
The iron masked man began to walk away before which he looked back once.
“Truly pathetic. You had him on your team, and yet… You remain hopeless.”
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The creature of pure darkness suddenly lunged towards the dropped man.
Hopelessly, he screamed.
BOOM!
A huge explosion followed in Ghady’s place where he immediately staggered on his feet to check on it.
Turns out, the egg inside the microwave exploded.
“Perhaps 5 minutes was too long.” Ghady muttered.
He opened the microwave and cleaned up the mess.
Luckily, the microwave itself was unharmed so Ghady did not have a problem in the future, however, now he had no meal.
This wasn't the first time starving for Ghady.
Of course, living in the backstreets meant no food most of the time.
He decided he would visit the headquarters tomorrow morning, to get his money and buy groceries.
He laid on his bed where he wrote one last sticky note.
‘Remember: Don’t cook an egg in the microwave for 5 minutes.’
—---------
The sun shines through a window.
Ghady turns in his bed as his eyes begin to open. Somehow, the night seemed short, very short. Time seemed to move fast when it wasn't needed.
He got up, picking up his hoodie jacket and wrapping it around his waist.
He turned on the tap of the sink.
“Damn, I haven't paid the water bills.”
He leisurely turned the tap off.
The only thought in his mind was to get paid. The simple desire of paying off the bills and having a decent meal was the only thing spinning his wind-up key.
Ghady walked through the familiar streets. He immediately sensed something was wrong.
The streets were awfully empty.
Usually, it would be buzzing as people complained about the noise. Today, however, it remained quiet.
He maneuvered the streets carefully. He could smell an awful odor, not that of trash, but he couldn't exactly tell.
Soon after, he came across his workplace, the alleyway.
At first, nothing seemed wrong.
Everything was in the right order.
Yet– something kept lurking around.
Ghady felt it too.
He didn’t dare to stop moving. It felt as if his shadow was pressing on his back.
It was until– Ghady finally saw the turnabout.
His heart sank.
He was breathless.
A corpse on the floor– a corpse that belonged to who Ghady once knew as ‘Bobby'. His face altered beyond recognition. His arm twisted all the wrong ways. His eyes, like doll-eyes. Black veins all over. Skin stained with a dark, greyish colour.
Ghady turned, only to see the boss man in a trench coat and the rest of the gang members dead. All suffering the same gruesome death.
Nothing made sense. There were no signs– no warnings.
It just happened to happen on this day.
Ghady dropped down to his knees with his hands gripping his head. ‘What… the hell…’ His voice can barely come out, only gasps of air.
Just then, he felt a warm breath behind him that dried his dripping sweat.
Ghady turned his head around. He saw something otherworldly.
A demon. Pitch-black, like the pupil of a dead person.
It opened its mouth– It shrieked.
The same screech from the ‘core'.
This was no coincidence…
The core has got everything to do with this.
Now's not the time.
Ghady took off to a different route.
The Demon dashed between shades and shadows.
Moving at high speeds, Ghady weaved everything that passed by. Cars, buses and bicycles, yet even in this danger, his mind could not comprehend everything.
Every time the creature moved, it seemed to plan for its next step, giving Ghady more opportunities to create distance.
Ghady ran through a dark section. Suddenly, it appeared right on Ghady's tail– and it seemed to be moving even faster.
It stretched its arm out, barely touching the back of Ghady's head, and for a second– Ghady's mind went blank, and his vision turned black.
He crashed onto a pile of glass bottles. He lay there for a moment, the sound of footsteps seemed to echo.
“My head…” blood dripping from his fingers. The Demon was nowhere to be seen.
Beside him, on the floor was a sturdy metal pipe. Shakily, he picked it up and held it tight with both hands, holding it in front of him.
Ghady breathed heavily as he stood there. His mind wandered images, memories of a previous life.
No. Now’s not the time for this. Now he must survive.
Time passed, about a minute or so. The creature hasn't reappeared yet…
Ghady stumbled to the middle of the four-way intersection. The daylight shone onto his eyes.
Suddenly– something appeared beneath him and gripped onto his leg.
Ghady leaned backwards and fell on his back, and the thing disappeared, leaving only a deep wound on his left ankle, and somehow, smoke.
‘Is it moving at such a speed where I didn't notice it?’ Ghady thought. He wrapped his jacket around his leg, and limped forward, using the pipe as a cane.
There were three other routes he could go through. He remembered one of them led to a dead end. And the other was significantly longer than the other. He chose the one parallel to the way he came from. He looked around, cautious of the demon. All the building windows were unlit. As if the entire city was asleep.
The street lights flickered. A warning.
Ghady looked backwards, and he saw nothing but a wall of darkness consuming the space of the narrow alley.
Ghady sprinted again. The last stretch. He needed to get to a safe place, fast. He tossed the pipe aside. He sprinted with all the power his legs could lend him.
He reached his hand out to the end of the alleyway, hoping someone, anyone could save him.
His fingertips reached the light of day–
Suddenly, a hand wrapped around his neck.
The monster held him up in a chokehold,
Ghady struggled, flailing his legs back and forth, but to no avail. He was thrown through a glass window, and sprawled onto the kitchen floor. He was paralyzed in pain and fear. The same awful feeling he felt earlier, his vision whirled into darkness. Vertigo.
Thoughts lingered in his mind, yet he could not fully comprehend them. He breathed heavily, not of exhaustion but of something more…
Guilt.
Not only guilt, but failure…
‘Stay… Okay?’ the guilt of that faded promise had only steeped in now. They were supposed to stay together.
The gang had taken him in when he needed them most, when he had lost everything. He owed everything to them. They saw him as one of them. He wished he could show it. They're gone.
The demon gnawed at him, as Ghady laid there and took the attacks, too engrossed in his thoughts to care.
A memory lingered in his mind.
A little girl, yelling at him, with tear-filled eyes.
“Why do you get everything! You… you failed!”
The child clearly did not understand the situation, Ghady himself was not much older than her, how would he be able to follow such a request?
“I-I didn't-”
An adult, much older than them, stepped in. “She’s right, you know?” His voice was firm, a child would not be able to argue with that. The adult clearly knew what he was doing, yet sided with the girl, even though he knew she was mistaken. Even though he knew that it was not possible for Ghady to follow such a request.
“You were the last one who saw the misstress. Last I remember, you went shopping with her, correct?”
“B-but I went to the restroom-”
“You should have known better… than to leave her alone… You at least would have known the killer if you were there.”
His logic did not match. Ghady was strong, but he was still a child. How can someone expect a child to take care of a grown adult. The girl continued crying, she did not understand the situation, “Mama…” she muttered as she kept crying.
Ghady didn't know much better, he did not know that the man was trying to manipulate him, use his feelings against him. Ghady deeply cared for the girl. At that moment, he did what a brother should, he sacrificed everything, so that the girl could get everything.
At that moment, Ghady failed.
A feeling.
Warm, and powerful surged through him.
His heart pumped like never before.
The demon, amused by Ghady's sudden change in behavior, stepped back.
Ghady belched more blood, as the demon walked up to him, he was already covered with wounds, and the bleeding did not stop. Yet, amidst all the pain, Ghady stood up. He knew that he couldn't die here.
He would die a failure? No. He wouldn't let that happen.
The voice of the girl crying ringed in his ears. It would not be the end. He would not fail a third time.
He will avenge his gang members as repayment for when they lended him a hand.
Ghady picked up a knife from the kitchen counter.
He leapt forward, and swung wildly.
The Demon stepped back every swing, teasing Ghady as it weaved through his entire flurry of attacks.
Ghady swung more violently than he had ever done, as if a new form of energy inhabited his body. Despite the wounds, he kept moving.
Eventually, the blood stopped flowing as well. It hardened as though it were never there.
The Demon continued to dodge with ease. However, Ghady was pushing it to an edge, eventually the demon was cornered.
During Ghady's blind barrage, he unintentionally slashed open the curtain. The cloth fell down slowly, revealing the light of day. The Demon stepped back, aware of the incoming light.
Then, its foot stepped onto something scorching.
It flinched– and it felt pain.
Ghady's eyes widened. It was cornered, not out of room, but because light surrounded it.
“Huh.” Ghady grinned, as he held out his sharp kitchen knife. It reflected a ray of light to the Demon, blasting an inch-sized hole right through its forehead as it wailed in pain.
“You’re weak to the sun.” Ghady wiped the blood off his chin. “I should’ve noticed it sooner.”
A lifeform created from the Core of Darkness.
The same one Ghady retrieved.
Ghady ran around the room, slicing off everything blocking the sunlight.
With one last shuddering breath, Ghady destroyed the last curtain in the room and the room was shrouded with light.
“Let's play Floor is lava.”
The demon screeched as it fell to the ground.
Quickly, Ghady lunged towards the demon at a fast speed. He slashed with the knife as the demon roared.
Slowly, the demon began to dissolve into the air.
Ghady struck the window, shattering the glass and he hauled the demon out the window of the building. Ghady jumped out the building and found themselves back in the alleyway.
He crawled towards the demon, the impact from landing on his leg opened his injuries again.
Once he had reached the demon, Ghady lifted his knife,
“Bastard… What are you?”
The knife glinted in the bright sun as he stabbed it deep inside the Hellspawn.
The wall of darkness that was closing in disappeared into the air. The demon screeched one last time, a final warning.
In its final attempt to cling onto life, the Demon lunged towards Ghady as it began to dissolve.
It pried Ghady's jaw wide. Everything went dark.
A weird sensation rippled through Ghady’s body. Eventually, he blacked out..
For a while, Ghady lay still there. Exhausted and filled with wounds.
However, when he woke up, everything felt surreal. His wounds were gone, and the sharp pain was gone as well, the only evidence of the battle was the giant broken window behind him.
Just as he thought those thoughts, his chest began to hurt again. It clenched as if something was moving, trying to gain control, but with much effort, the pain suddenly stopped.
Time went back to its normal pace.
Recalling back whatever just happened was too much of a hassle.
Ghady stood up, keeping his eyelids closed. He let the sound of dripping water from the broken pipes calm him down.
But then, the peace was cut short.
The sound of faint footsteps echoed through the alley. A shadow coming from behind the wall.
Then silence returned. But it felt occupied.
Ghady didn’t move. No, he couldn’t.
The person came around and about. A youthful boy, who seemed around the same age as Ghady, likely younger.
A sailor collar, sun emblem and vibrant blue hair. He tilted his head. A faint smile rose from his face.
“My, my,” He waited, as if to get a reaction. “What have we got here?”
An unpleasant feeling shook through Ghady's soul.
The boy cracked his neck, “I'll cut to the chase.”
He then took out something, a sword.
He pointed it at Ghady, dropping the sheathe to the ground.
"Were you the one who stole from The Volvana?”